Mockery of democratic conventions
The Congress privileged members of the old guard to lead the governments
in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh. It did not pick Sachin Pilot
and Jyotiraditya Scindia as Chief Ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
The choice was left to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, making a mockery of
democratic conventions and the electoral mandate.
In Rajasthan, the party opted for two-time Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot,
who had lost two elections. The Congress
leadership has opted in the end for experience over youthful dynamism. The
compromise was in the form of the deputy chief ministership for Pilot.
Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. Baghel was credited for
the massive victory of the party in the recent Assembly polls where Congress
won 68 seats in the 90-member House. The BJP, which was in power in the State
since 2003, bagged just 15 seats in the elections.
In Madhya Pradesh, It was the
president of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee, Kamal Nath. Congress leader
Kamal Nath (72) was sworn in as the 18th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh in
Bhopal on Monday. The Congress, which won 114 seats, has the support of one
Samajwadi Party legislator, two Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs and four independents,
to cross the majority mark of 116 seats in the 230-member Assembly. The BJP,
which ruled the State for 15 years, got 109 seats in this elections.
Wasn't Mr Kamal Nath heavily involved in the 1984 Sikh pogroms? Is the
reward for such heinous crimes a Chief Ministership? Is the Congress any
different from the BJP when it comes to rewarding felons with high posts? One would have thought that the Congress
party which made so much hue and cry about the Godhra pogroms would have
assumed the moral high ground and distanced itself from the Sajjan Kumars,
Jagdish Tytlers, Kamal Naths and their ilk. But no, the Congress proves that it
is no different from the BJP.
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